Spring-hinge



- 2 Sheets-Sheet 1..

" 4P aten'ted Ju L. MOUA'T, vJr. SPRING HINGE.

(M del) (Model.) I l n 2 'sheets-slim 2.

L. MOUAT, Jr.

SPRING HINGE.

210,522,612.- Patented July 10,1894. v

UNITED STATES .PATENT Ormes.

LAURENCE lMOUAT, JR., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.'

SPRING-HINGE..

SPECIFICATION Yforming part-of Letters Patent No. 522,612, dated July10, 1894.

` Application iiienecenibei 30,1890. serial No. 316,228- tMvdl-l To al@whom it. may concern).- 1 Be. it known that I, LAURENCE MoUA'r, Jr., acitizen of they United States, residing at Chicago, in the county ofCook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain'new and usefulImprovement in Spring-Hinges, (Case No. 4,) of which the'following is afull, clear, concise,

and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming a part:

of this specification.

My invention i'elates to double acting spring hinges, the constructionbeing such that a doorv hung therewith may have square corners at thehinged edge thereof and be swung in either direction with the leastpossible. margin as l between the swinging door and the spring in thecasingin which it is hung. The'joint at the hinged edge is thus madeclose on both sides and onlya very slight margin is required` betweenthe swinging or free edge and the Jamb or opposite side of the casing. Yangular notch is cut in the edge of the door for each hinge and all theworkingparts, of the hinge are included in the notch.

The notch is cut to iit a plate or castingv which is rigidly secured tothe door. A second plate or casting conformingin general shape to thatof the platesecured tothe door,

is secured to the casing. This casting which is secured to the casing ispreferably provided with side plates, or,if desired, it may becast 1n asingle piece vopen onone side so as to form a chamber forthespring. Asinglecoiled spring placedwithin this chamber between the inner ends ofthe plates or castingsl serves to close the door by its recoil,no ,matf

ter in which direction the door may be swung.:

The connections between thespringand thef castings, togetherl with thecams forming the bearings between thetwo plates, constitute theprincipal features'of -my invention, the` construction and arrangementof parts being? such that when the doorisswung in one dir-j rectiononeend, I will say the lower end of the spring, is preventedfrom'turning, while the other end, that is the upper end, is turned bythe movement of the door vso that. the .re-

, coil of the spring thus acted upon will bring `the door back to itsclosed position. New in 5o case the door is swung in the otherdirectionthe spring will be acted upon also oppositely,

A rect-i that is the upper end is held whileV the lower` end is turnedwith the door,r Thus no matter in-which direction the door is moved fromits lclosed position thetension of the spring will 4be made such thatwhen the door is left free it will be self closing. t

An important featureV of m'y invention referred to is the means wherebythe eccentric `pivotal movement of the door is effected as is necessarywhen the square or rectangular edges are left to make close` jointsat'the hinged side or edge of thedoor. One of the plates forming theframe of the hinge is', as before stated, secured to the door. The innerplate or box is secured to the door frame and in order that the doorhaving rightangled corners may be swung it isV necessary that the doorshall move out away from the casing as vit is swung in either direction.

I find it desirable to provide special anti friction devices in the formof pins having slotted heads placed between the ends of the.

two plates, the slotted heads being adapted to move in slots or guidesprovided upon the outer plate, while the'pins are free to rotate intheir sockets provided in the ends of the cores ofthe spring. Theseanti-friction pins I preferably use in addition to the wheels which aremore especially designed to move .in the cam to give the proper pivotalmovement to the door as the ldoor is swung. These anti-friction pinssustain ypractically the entire weight .of the' door so that thefriction vof, the hinge is verymaterially reduced. All spring hingesheretofore made in which a single spring has been employed have hadlarge attached to the door to impart the desired ecf nc entricvmovementto the door when it is swung in either direction. The ends of this plateor box are also provided with openings,

each opening being provided with a stop or pin for limiting the movementof the spring in one direction. Thel cores at the dierent ends of thespring project through these openings and bear upon annular seatsAprovided about these openings. Y y, ,j

IOO

My invention will be more readily understood by reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a side elevation showingthe position of my double acting spring hinge applied to a door. Fig. 2is a sectional view thereof. Fig. 3 is a plan View as seen from sectionline fcof Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a similar View showing the door swung openor at right angles to the closed position indicated in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 isa view as seen from section line y-g/ of Fig. 2. Fig. G is a viewsimilar to that of Fig. 5 except that the door is swung open as shown inFig. 4. Fig. isa sectional view upon line wof Fig. 2. Fig. S is aperspective view as seen from below of the under side of the upper endof the plate which is attached to the door with the wheels carriedthereby. Fig. 9 is a perspective View of one of the anti-friction pins.Fig. l0 is a perspective view of one of the cores or hubs and is actedupon by a pin provided upon the plate carried by the door to be rotatedwhen the door is swung in one direction. Fig. 11 is a transversesectional View of the hub upon line 2-2 of Fig. 2, showing the manner ofinitially setting the spring. Fig. l2 is a perspective view of the upperend of the inner plate or portion of the spring case showing theeccentric opening therein and the stop for preventing the rotarymovement of the spring in one direction.

Like parts are indicated by similar letters of reference throughout thedifferent figures.

As shown in Fig. l the door a is hung to the casing yb by my springhinge; the plate c of the hinge is secured in a notch cut in the edge ofthe door and is secured rigidly to the door, preferably by screwsinserted as shown through the upper and lower extended ends of the platec. This plate c is preferably cast in a single piece and upon each ofthe inner end faces thereof I provide a guide c', which may be formed bycutting rectangular grooves or slots in said faces as shown most clearlyin Fig. 8. I also provide upon these faces extensions or lugs c2 c3 onefor each ofthe wheels c1 c5. I preferably provide also the lug orprojection c5 which is brought against the arm or extension d of the hubor core to turn the spring when the door is open.

The box or casting e is secured to thc door frame, preferably by screws,as shown most clearly in` Fig. 2, the screws being inserted through theextended ends or clips of this box or casting. The form of the cam e inthe upper end of this spring box is clearly shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 12.This cam is in outline similar to a padlock and the wheels c4 c5 areguided thereby when the door is swung as shown in Fig. 6. This cam maybe considered as made up of two parts, the smaller part e2 being at therear between the points e3 and c4, while the larger curved portion e5forms the remaining portion thereof. An annular bearing surface e isprovided about the opening e7 as shown. A pin or stop e8 is alsoprovided against which the arm d is brought and thereby stopped to holdone end of the spring from turning.

It will be understood that the pin f provided with the slotted head isplaced in the opening f of the hub or core and that this hub or core isinserted in the opening c7 of plate e so that the pointf2 of the arm dcomes just back of the pin or stop es. The spring is provided with aseparate core or hub at each end, with which cores the ends of thesprings are connected respectively.

The core, speaking generally, may be considered as consistiiu.r of thethmble f3 into which the portion f4 of the hub is inserted. The hub ispreferably provided with a projection oriingerf5 for limiting themovement of one of the cam wheels, that is to say the cam wheel c4, sothat it may not pass beyond the spur or point e3 when the door is swungin the opposite direction to that indicated in Fifr. 6.

It will be understood that the cams at the different ends of the castinge are symmetrical, and the two ends might be said to be identicalinconstruction, but for the fact that the stop eq at the upper endshould be on the opposite side from the corresponding stop at the otherend. I therefore do not deem. it necessary to describe in detail theconstruction of the cam and the connections between the spring, the camand the core at the lower end of the hinge as Figs. 3 and tbeing takenupon line :1cof Fig. 2 clearly indicate the construction and operationof the cam, the core and the different parts thereof when consdered inconnection with the description of the corresponding parts described indetail in connection with Figs. 9, 10 and 12.

In order that the spring may be initially set at the proper tension thecollar g is provided to which the lower end of the springis secured. Apin g inserted through anyone of the openings g2 g2 of this collar whenopposite the pin hole g3 may be used to retain the spring in positionafter it has been set.

As before stated the hub f4 is inserted through the opening e7 into thesleeve f of the core, the portion f2of armtl being placed in position tocome just back of the stop e8. The anti-friction pin f is also insertedin the openingf, the under side of the head of said pin resting upon theupper end of the hubf4 as shown in Figs. 2 and 7. The slot in the pin fis adapted to slide upon the guide c ot' the plate c and thus the weightand friction of the door is brought upon the head of pinf above andbelow.

In ease the door is swung inwardly as shown in Figs. 4 and G with thespring connected as shown, the lug c6 will be forced against the arm d,thus rotating the core in the upper end of the spring and thereby theupper end of the spring, while the lower end of the spring is preventedfrom turning. Now

when the door is opened as shown the Wheel c4 (see Fig. G) will becarried along the curve e5 of the cam away from its normal position nearthe point e4 while the wheel'l c5 will be carried over point e3 of thecam along the curve or side e2 to the point e4. Considering now theaction of the hinge at the other end of the spring it will be seen thatthe arm h 1s not acted upon by the lug h. Moreover the pin h2 serves asa stop to prevent the rotation of the lower hub. Therefore the wheelsbelowwill be carried asl indicated in Fig. 4 about the cam and the lowerend of the spring will be held from turning. The finger h3 projectingfrom the hub serves to prevent the wheel h4 from passing Vover the pointh5. Thus when the door is swung to bring the wheel h4 between point h5and projection or finger h3 further travel of the wheel h4 will beprevented and any further opening ol the door will be as itfwere withthe wheel h4 as the pivotal axis.

The studs or pins c2 cfor the wheels c4 c5y are preferably of steel andmay be conveniently inserted after the other parts are assembled throughopenings tapped out in the end of the plate c, that is to say, the box ewith the spring placed therein and the wheels of the cams inv properposition, is placed Wlthin the plate c, the anti-friction pins f beingarranged so as to register with the guides c. The pins c2 c3 and thecorresponding pins at the otherend of the plate c are then insertedthrough the openings tapped out in said ends.

The parts of the hinge being thus assembled it is ready for the market.f

The casting attached to the door articulates with the casting containingthe spring which is attached to the casing and the pivotal connectionsbetween are such that when the door is swung in either direction theten. sion of -thespring will be changed so as to cause the door ytoclose, the cams being so arranged as to give the door an eccentricpivotal movement so as to permit it to open and close,notwithstandingthe hinged edge or side of the door is provided withsquare corners so as to form atight joint between the door and thecasing.

It is more convenient to hang a door with my hinges when'there isnotension upon the springs. The casting e is preferably first screwed tothe casing and the door being then held up in proper position the platec is screwed to the door; the spring being know set at the propertension the door will be held close to the casing.

It should be observed that the cam is so shaped that the wheels restjust outside the points ea e4 when the door is closed. Therefore iwhenthe door is closed considerable force will be required to cause thewheels to start since one wheel mustpass over one of the points e8 e4.There willv therefore be no liability of the door being opened by anyordinary gusts of wind.

In case of light doors it is evident that one spring .mightbe enough todo the work, in which case the spring of the lower hinge mightbe'omitted.

The cam may be formed, if desired, in a separate plate z', preferablylof steel, which may be adapted to slide or to be inserted into the endsof the box c as indicated in Fig. 12.

My invention admits of various modifications which would readily suggestthemselves to those skilled in the art and Itherefore do not limitmyself to the details ofpconstruction shown.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new 'and desire to secureby Letters Patentl. In a hinge, the combination with au antifrictionpinf having a slotted head, of the angle plate c having the guide c toengage the slotted pin head, the box plate e having an opening e7, andhub ftmounted in said opening e7 and provided with an opening f toreceive said pin when in engagement with said guideg/whereby the weightand friction of the door is brought upon, the upper and under sides ofthe pin head, substantially as described.

2. In a hinge, the combination with eccentrically pivoted castingssecured respectively to the door and the casing, of a spring containedin said casing casting, cores provided -upon the ends of said spring,parts provided upon said door casting adapted to engage respectivelywith said cores; whereby said spring is placed in tension in whicheverdirec-V tion said door is opened, substantially as de scribed.

3. In a hinge, the combination with a spring, of a thimble f3 providedupon the end thereof, a hub f4 adapted to be inserted in said thimble,said hub being provided with an arm d, a lug c6 movable with the dooradapted to press against said arm d, a stop e8 against which aprojection f2 provided upon said hub is adapted to bear, substantiallyas described.

4. The combination with the hub forming a part of the core of the springof a hinge,- of the cam and cam wheels and a finger f5, whereby when thedoor is swung in one direction one of the wheels as c4 is prevented frombeing carried beyond the point e3 of the cam, substantially as and forthe purpose specified.

5. In a hinge, the combination with a casting secured to the door, of acasting secured to the casing, said casing casting being provided withthe cam of padlock shape carry-I ICO iro'

ing the projecting points e3 e4, and cam wheels the end thereof, saidplate being provided with the internal cam surfaces e2 e5, substantiallyas described.

7. In a hinge, the combination with a casting secured to the casing andprovided with cams upon its ends, of a casting secured to the door andprovided with rollers adapted to move about said cams, a spring Withinsaid casing casting, cores upon the ends of said spring and providedwith arms, said door casting being provided with projections adapted toengage said arms, and stops provided upon said casing casting forpreventing the movement of the cores in one direction, substantially asdescribed.

8. In a hinge, the combination with the sta tionary and movable partsthereof, of a cam connection between said parts, a spring inclosedWithin the stationary part, cores provided with arms attached to theends of said spring and extending through the ends of said stationarypart, projections provided upon said moving part adapted to engagealternately the arms on said cores, as the door is swung in one or thcother direction, substantially as described.

9. In a hinge, the combination with a castintar provided with camsrecessed in its ends, of a casting provided with rollers adapted totravel in said cams to impart an eccentric pivotal movement to the door,substantially as described.

10. The combination with the two parts of a spring hinge, one part beingprovided with a friction reducing pin provided with a slotted head whichis adapted to move inaguide provided in the other part and preventlateral movement of said other part, substantially as and for thepurpose specified.

1l. In a hinge, the combination with the castings provided with aneccentric cam connection, of a spring contained in one of said castings,thimbles on the end of said spring provided with central openings, hubspassing through said openings, and means for rotating one of said hubsand maintainingr the other fixed in position, substantially asdescribed.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 20th day ofDecember, A. D. 1890.

LAURENCE MoUA'r, JR.

Witnesses:

ELLA EDLER, GEORGE L. CRAGG.

